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Friday 28 Jan 2005

AUTUMN LEAVES … WITH FEW DELAYS

Region & Route:

| Southern

“Leaves on the line causing delays” - a station announcement you would not have heard this year as autumn related delays tumbled by more than 37% in the south east. Iain Coucher, Network Rail Deputy Chief Executive said: “Through good, detailed planning and preparation Network Rail delivered an outstanding autumn which continues a trend that has seen some 16 months of continuous performance improvements.  Closer co-operation with the train operators has also played its part in producing the best autumnal performance for many years. My thanks go to all the people who worked very hard to make such a difference.” £15m was invested into autumn preparation in the south east. Seventeen special leaf-busting trains, 24,000 man hours, 20 two-men teams with a whole host of rail cleaning equipment spent eight weeks immersed in the seasonal battle. Train operating companies also played their part, embarking on a programme of special professional driver training and installing automatic sanders on much of their fleet. Mr Coucher continued:  “The rail industry is committed to improving performance and this autumn demonstrates our ability to deliver on these promises.”